Wizz Air, the Hungary-based budget airline operating three routes out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA), has enjoyed firm growth in passenger levels for December and the year as a whole.

Last month it carried 1.52m customers, a 22% increase on the same period last year.

On a rolling 12-month basis, the airline has carried 19.18m passengers, also a 22% improvement on the same point in 2014.

Its load factors, or the number of available seats sold, improved by 0.8% to 85.1% for last month, and by 1.6% over the past 12 months, to 87.9%.

Last month it also added a new A321 aircraft, taking its total fleet to 65.

The airline flies from LJLA to Gdansk and Warsaw in Poland, and Riga in Latvia.

It is the largest low-cost operator in Central and Eastern Europe and continues to expand its network.

It opened its 22nd operating base in Debrecen, in Hungary, last month and announced it will open its 23rd in Romania this July.

Wizz Air also extended its routes network by 11 last month, including five to Romania, three in Macedonia, two to Poland and a Lithuanian route.

In November it announced record half year results, with pre-tax profits up 16.4% to £135.3m, on a 15% jump in revenues to £592.6m.

Chief executive József Váradi, said: “We are very pleased with summer trading and to report record profitability for the first half of F16.

“We have continued to grow our network and increase our passenger numbers throughout the period while maintaining an industry leading, ultra-low cost base.”

Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk/news